1. Field of the Invention
This invention improves the assembly process for a panoramic-view diving mask, having self-sealing, non-glued removable watertight lenses and, more specifically, an enhanced seal between the lenses and the frame of the mask.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional panoramic-view diving mask, side lenses are incorporated on each side of a single- or double-frontal-lens mask to enhance the diver's peripheral vision, enabling a panoramic view of the surrounding environment. To achieve this viewing advantage, manufacturers have typically used a permanent adhesive to bond the side and frontal lenses together to form a watertight seal at the lens joint. Though conventional panoramic-view diving masks are popular in the market, gluing the lenses together entails some distinct disadvantages for both manufacturers and consumers (or end users):
a) For the end user, the replacement of a broken, scratched, or prescribed optical-correction lens cannot be done without causing permanent damage to the bonded edges of the assembled lenses, perhaps even rendering the mask non-water-tight.
b). For the manufacturer, high costs are associated with the pre-bonding of the front and side lenses to create three-dimensional lens configurations (usually as L or U configurations) necessary before the lenses can be assembled to the mask frame. The curing time of the adhesive, often taking many hours, can also be costly. Expensive high-precision equipment is needed during the bonding process to ensure the quality of the three-dimensional bonding shape of the lenses and the watertight integrity of the adhesive bond. And the increased bulk of fixtures for the bonded lenses raise storage space and packaging size in production. These high manufacturing costs are inevitably passed to the consumer.
For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a panoramic-view diving mask with self-sealing, non-glued removable watertight lenses that would enable the manufacturer and the end user to easily replace damaged lenses.